Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection. – Red Smith

The Yankee Clipper’s Stamp. Philly & NY Legends. Lefty in Japan. The Mick in ’56. Vince in San Diego.

In July of 2012, Joe DiMaggio will be featured on an official United States Postal Service stamp. I can’t say that I collect stamps but this is still very cool and may be something worth buying just to put in a frame. The artwork is done by the very talented Kadir Nelson which is always a treat to check out. To read an article about the release of this stamp, click HERE.

On a related note, the USPS released a postage stamp last summer honoring Negro League Baseball. The art was also done by Kadir Nelson, check it out HERE.

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Jimmie Foxx, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Mickey Cochrane all pose for a photo together. Not too much to say about this photo with the exception that there is a whole lot of Baseball talent combined in this group photo. Also, how about them awesome stirrups that Foxx & Cochrane have on!?

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A great photo of Lefty O’Doul during one of his various trips to Japan as an ambassador of the game. In 2002 Lefty was posthumously inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. As far as I am concerned he should be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame also.

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Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. This photo captures Mickey Mantle saving Don Larson’s perfect game by making a great running catch in the 5th inning . The ball was hit in deep left center by Gil Hodges and Mantle made the catch in a full sprint. What an incredible photo I must say. Everything that Mantle did looked at least x10 cooler than anyone else doing the same.

A funny story from that day is that Larson insisted on trying to discuss the progress of his perfect game with his teammates. Legend goes that Larson was fully aware of the Baseball superstition of not doing so but he did not care as he wanted to break the tension in the dugout. Mantle wanted nothing to do with this and at some point responded to Larson with an abrasive “Shut the fuck up” in front of the rest of their Yankee teammates.

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Vince DiMaggio during his time with the inaugural 1936 San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League. Besides the well known and easy to find team photo of the 1936 Padres, I had never seen a photo of Vince in the Padres pinstripes. Needless to say, I was very delighted to discover this photo.